session down 1.5 percent, down 183 on the dow. back tonight for the fox report at 7:00 eastern, 4:00 pacific. until then, here is neil cavuto. >>neil: now we know and clearly now wall street knows, stick it to the rich or else. they didn't like it. how about you? today, president obama making it clear and remove all doubt the republican talking over deductions for the rich not enough. raise the tax rates or all jump off the cliff now. >> when it comes to the top 2 percent what i'm not going to do is to extend further a tax cut for folks who don't need it which would cost close to $1 trillion and it is very

difficult to see how you make up that $1 trillion if we are serious about debt reductions by closing loopholes and deductions. >>neil: did you hear that? that is close as unequivocal as the president has ever been on tax issue. limiting deductions, ending write offs and not likely to raise as up money as slapping those old clinton tax rates right back on the wealthy. say republicans do not quite see things that way, speaker boehner refusing to consider a rate hike would put the would expect of an end of year deal to avoid a cliff locking more like a chasm. the public debt watcher is our guest. what do you think? >>guest: well, the president did double down on raising taxes today. he is taking the easy way out. he didn't talk about spending. he had a casual mention of cutting spending and addressing entitlements and those are the drivers of the debt.

we have to be clear this starting offer is $1.6 trillion raising taxes we had $1.2 trillion deficit just last year. i don't think this is a one-sided problem. >>neil: something happened between the negotiating situation and removing the other argument, the spending argument and $1.6 trillion insisting it be a rate cut orate hike, he has removed doubt where the negotiations should go. is he interpreting or overinterpretting the election? he says the american people support that view. what do you think? >> i don't think the american people support that. if his own campaign, axelrod came out and said the president does not have a mandate. the president didn't get a man difficulty to raise taxes. he was the other option when people didn't feel they had enough confidence to vote for mitt romney this vote wasn't a vote to raise taxes but a vote to move forward with where we are going as amation and try to

have bipartisan work. >>neil: i don't think we will get that. i am saying that they are miles apart. you can cover a lot of ground in a month and a half but you have a lot ground to cover, so, someone has to blink. i think the president, because the critics say he blinked two years ago, doesn't want to blink again. the irony is that two years ago when he opted to extend all the bush rates, he did so because the economy was too fragile to tamper with raising taxes at the time. it is more fragile now. the g.d.p. is actually lower now. so, what gives? >>guest: absolutely. the economy is still in a very fragile state and if we are going to continue a recover we l -- we cannot raise taxes. republicans cannot raise tax rates. that is damaging to them. >>neil: do they sense they have wiggle room on the

deductions and allowances? and say the president is wrong on this, but the $1 trillion you can talk money like that if you remove the allowances and breaks how is it being told? >>guest: as we start to see how they will roll the loopholes out, there is a lot of corporate welfare in the tax structure. we have not reformed the tax code since the 1980's and the internet wasn't around them so there is an opportunity to roll out the items and see where we are. i don't see how you can dismiss we don't get there without closing loopholes and deductions first. >>neil: for get whether the president can get republicans there, does he have a power will outlie? it is the mainstream media, happy to tow the "hate the rich line" because many in the media do hate the rich. co-host of "the five" the joy of

triumph over whiners in the age of phony outrage. well, maybe the media helps in >>guest: they are the cheerleading squad for class warfare. now people do not admire them they want to skip this step and become rich but until they are they hate the rip. there has never been an after school special for rich people. he have done it for every group but not for the rip. the rich, obese, and the smokers are the only people --. >>neil: came, careful, careful. to out of three. how do the media help on this? if there, if the media agrees, you have an argument, the rich are not paying thai fair share they can get -- you could argue it helped them win? >>guest: absolutely. i would go to a broader sense the requested of fairness is a cool idea and actually creating wealth is uncool idea.

reporters for 40 years have propagated the idea it is far more cool to redistribute you sound more charity average although it doesn't work and even if you bring up the independence of independent opposed to dependence, that translates to being "mean." you are mean or you are a racist. it creates a barrier around a candidate and it scares people from saying how they fowl, people who did vote for obama before, and didn't vote for him now seem bigoted. that is strange. >>neil: what about saying rage or whatever you want to talk about, or just outrage, how the president dressed the benghazi thing. >>guest: the general petraeus thing has provided more cover than a circus. he must be so thankful for this scandal. but the susan rice thing, that killed me. the book is about phone any outrage that is a manufactured

example of outrage. he was phone -- it was bizarre. i wish -- he was angrier about the reaction of the story of benghazi than the actual terror in benghazi. >>neil: but the media, whether it is this story, the economy, or whatever, this is a lot of faux rage. >>guest: that is designed to shut you up, the tolerant left is just a way to be intolerant. it allows intolerance to exist. for example, occupy wall street was relegated by the press to be romantic and heroic while crimes were committed across the country but because it was if the greater good you can do bad. >>neil: but occupiers were

hero and the family was nuts. >>guest: tea party would not throw a chair through the window because they own the chair and the window. ows, they owned the soiled clothes but the reporters and the jump histories identified with them, and embedded with them, because they saw in them heroic reflection of themselves, something they wanted to be. >>neil: do you think this the election, then, is a validation for what the president was outlining today raising taxes on the rich? and the media will go along? the rich have gotten disproportionate share of the success and money. >>guest: exactly. it is their fault they achieved. it is a dangerous road. it punishes people would create jobs and you used to want to be rich and now you want to punish the rich. i am listening to myself and i

am defending the rich and immediately that sounds like you are evil. >>neil: what distinguishes you is maybe the problem on the right this are not too many funny people. >>guest: the message, the conservative message is sound. free markets. free minds. strong military. achievement. competition. competition is the pest. this is a great message. we have not found the merger who can do it. i said it is great to have style but now -- great do have substance now but time for style. democrats have style and the republicans have the substance and now it is time to look for our obama, rebound is the best regularrive liberal candidate i have seen in my life and i disagree with everything he did but i have to give it to him he can articulate that vision clear ly.

>> it could be you. >>guest: no, no, no. we could have funnel cakes. >>neil: "the joy of hate." if nothing else, what he says about hollywood and it is laugh out loud crying funny. very good stuff. and puts this whole thing in perspective. washington, dc, plays the game of chicken, new signs we are all getting "plucked." where others fail, droid powers through.

introducing the new droid razr maxx hd by motorola. now more than ever droid does.

>> republicans are picking who will lead the ramps in the house of representatives where they

still have the majority and an interesting pick here to be the conference chair. it goes thought to tom price of georgia, and is considered as someone who is less strident on the spending and tax issue, and tom price is very much against addressing revenues, almost to the point of being inflexible, some tea party conservatives welcome that but if this is a signal the republicans could be more accommodating or caving it could add to the concerns. it depends on your point of view of what is happening at corner of wall and broad, another big hit 185 points sin the election, last week, now, we have seen the dow fall in excess of 400 -- 600 points working out to north of 5 percent since the election maybe

on a lot of these concerns. taxes going up. and no wiggle room from the white house. retailers are blaming hurricane sandy. sales falling in october by the biggest amount in june, sandy hit at the end of october the reason why my guest says this is more to do with the cliff at the end of the year. blaming hurricane sandy is taking the easy way out, what you are seeing is a cautious consumer that is not looking to make big ticket item purchases now, but they are spending on food, on gas, remember all the long lines from the t set before sandy? they were stocking up and the exercise department was the first to say that sandy gave a bump to some retailers so you cannot blame sandy. the bigger issue is the frustrated consumer.

>>neil: you cannot blame sandy with this data. >>guest: you will see more outcome in november but it is not all bad news with sandy, home depot saw a bump in sales. you have to replace cars, and clothing if you lost part of your home. >>neil: back to the cliff, how is that weighing us down. >>guest: uncertainty is killing consumers. they don't want to spend when they do not know what will happen. >>neil: the taxes will go up. if you are wealthy --. >>guest: it is not just how it affects the wealthy but how it affects corporations and the corporations that employs you. will we see more layoffs or people cutting back in different growth areas not spending and developing in the united states just because it is not worth their while. that filters down so consumers see their boss not hiring and they are downsizing. >> they don't have certainly in their jobs and they will not be

out buying tv's and refrigerators and all the items that help move the economy. markets are not a barometer or indicator of things but we have had five senate shops and any are not promising. they can change but there is a collective sense of angst of what could happen >>guest: that nothing has changed. we did not get much done best election and now people concerned they will not get their act together and we need them to get their act together. i think that consumer is going to continue to be cautious through the end of the year. >>neil: even hickory farms? >>guest: perhaps salami will see a butch.

>>neil: and now how the white house meeting that went down. ♪ you talk to much ♪ you worry me to death i always wait until the last minute.

can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. then you may be looking for help in choosing the right plan for your needs. so don't wait. call now. whatever your health coverage needs, unitedhealthcare can help you find the right plan. are you looking for something nice and easy? a medicare advantage plan can give you doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage all in one plan... for nothing more than what you already pay for part b. you'll also have the flexibility to change doctors

from a network of providers dedicated to helping you stay healthy. call now to learn more. unitedhealthcare has the information you need so you'll be better prepared when making medicare decisions. maybe you'd just like help paying for your prescriptions. consider a part d prescription drug plan. it may help reduce the cost of your prescription drugs. remember, open enrollment ends friday, december 7th. call unitedhealthcare to learn about medicare plans that may be right for you. call now.

>>neil: the president's meeting was described as a pep rally and now today he met with big business leaders. >>reporter: it was a makeup session. the president doesn't have as strong a regulationship with the business community as he does with the labor commune. you know that better than

anyone. that is an unstatement of the year. but he won the election. while i asked him at the news conference whether he believes high has a mandate he ducked that idea because he does not want to claim he has all this political capital to spend after he did with the 2004 victory, but at the news conference he was going on and on how he believes things working in his favor, on extending the bush tax cuts for the rich, he admitted in 2010 he had less leverage after the midterm election victory and now he believes he has more leverage and said this is not going to be a big debt deal without making sure that the tax cuts for the rich expire. so what is he doing with the business leaders? trying to extend an only -- an olive branch and try to calm the markets which have been very

concerned that washington, dc seems broken and far apart on getting a deal. the president's words so far are trying to reassure the markets and i heard him at the news conference saying he want as big deal. he has not said that in a year and a half the summer of 2011 here and speaker boehner talked of the grand bargain so the words there but the action is not there. >>neil: one of the folks in the group, was it -- was aetna chairman and he said go slow on the revenue push with a sputtering economy here. so, i am wondering how that could have been received because some of the other guys there i don't know their voting a >> -- voting allegiance i wonder how heated it might is gotten. >> to be honest we will have to

do more digging on whether it got heated or not or whether it was a diplomatic exchange. maybe as they say in diplomat parlance, a frank exchange of views, i suspect some of the c.e.o.'s are not happy of revenue being on the table. >>neil: do they let it rip in that kind of a venue, you used to it and nothing intimidates you but the at white house it is intimidating so these guys who are loaded for bear, get in there and they are ready to let him have it and they just fold. >>guest: i have seen it many times they go to the oval office, and they are in awe even as a big c.e.o. and it is hardtory tell the president face to face i don't like your plan. the other thing that the president has, wraps, in his favor, as you have also noticed a growing number of c.e.o.'s on the outside pressuring leaders in washington, dc, saying we may not like the revenue on the table and we may want more spending cuts but do something. do something. the markets want some certainty.

the president referred to that today and, i heard his words, the key is whether he actually put some things on the table to bring the republicans along and have some action on both sides to get a deal done. speaker has been saying good things how he want as deal and the president has good rhetoric. let's see if they start the ball rolling on it to get a deal. >>neil: i have had good rhetoric about going on diets, but, whatever, something you don't have to worry about. thank you from the white house. the c.e.o.'s are leaving. it looked like they were coming and going. anyway, the next guest here was backing the president's call if $1.6 trillion tax hike, democratic congressman from california. congresswoman, go do have you back. >>guest: thank you. good to be back. >>neil: i take it from the president's remarks today that it has to be a rate hike on the

rich and deductions and playing around with credits and tax breaks will not cut it, did i interpret that correctly? >>guest: no, i do think you interpreted it correctly but it will be interesting to see exactly what the details are. i will look forward to that. in terms of the c.e.o.'s that are meeting with the president right now i will be curious to see what they say but there have been indications from many sectors of the business community including t chamber of commerce, they want to see a deal and everyone has been saying that people do see the need --. >>neil: but chamber of commerce, tom donohue, he is across the street, and he wasn't invited. >>guest: he wasn't? that is interesting. >>neil: i was shocked i wasn't invited. >>guest: neither was i. >>neil: here is what i want to know, it would seem that company, had key congressional caucuses, progressive caucuses and the like are urging the

president not to give an inch on this rate hike for the rich. are you among those urging the president not to blink, we still don't forgive you for what you did two years ago when you extended them? what the deal? ing mine is the part of not forgiving him from two years ago but it is absolutely essential that we allow for tax cuts to continue for 98 percent of americans but for people who earn above $250,000 --. >>neil: say, and we can quibble over that as we have in the past but what do republicans get in return? i don't hear much volunteering about slowing spending. >>guest: no, no, no, i do believe that the president support as balanced approach and so do i. there have already been very severe cuts implemented the last couple of years and there are other places we can cut. when it comes to the entitlement programs --. >>neil: when you say severe

cuts, congresswoman, we are looking at likely $1 trillion plus deficit and maybe the cuts would have been more dramatic or the growth would have been more dramatic without them but the fact of matter is we are piling up $16.2 trillion if debt right now and that is unabated. >>guest: right, but what i was going to say on entitlement program, both medicaid and medicare, there are ways to fine savings in both of those programs without fundamentally changing them. >>neil: tell me one thing you would do for medicare? raise the age? >>guest: no, i would look at the prescription drug the costs and a way to negotiate the smaller amount. and another thing, big in medicare, once a year a news magazine does reports about fraud in medicare where people set up dummy corporations and

get followed equipment --. >>neil: but what troubles me about some democrats, they continue say, we want you to give some ground on the tax hikes for the rich. but when we say what are you going to do, it is waste, fraud and abuse something you criticized president obama and these are not much of an alternative but we have to scale back benefits and bring up the retime ages. i don't know the details but i don't hear that talk. >> i do think we should look at the programs but what i gave you specifically was not nothing suggestions but i gave you specific example of the fraud that takes place every year in medicare where people set up the

dummy corporations and it is billions in fraud that we need to crackdown on and that is just one example. so, i think when the president says that everything needs to be on the tail, it does, but --. >>neil: you really think everything is on the table because lately my suspicion is it is sock it to the rich and maybe, maybe, maybe we will get around to it. >>guest: i don't believe that. i think the president's and the congress has put forward on the democrats and obviously on the republican side, pain will cuts that have been put in place and i think people are willing to go further. >>neil: we had a plan with wars already done and it is $4 trillion over 10 years, $4 trillion off the growth of government over 10 years so ten years from now, we would still have $6 trillion more of government than we do now. that is dramatic.

that is a big cut. >>guest: it is. i do think things can be done. >>neil: i tell you what, i could have gained 15 pounds but so far this year i am up only ten and then net-net i am down five. >>guest: i believe a new tone is being set post election and i am optimistic we can solve the problem before the end of year. >>neil: i help you are right. very good do have you. thank you. >> imagine this, hurricane sandy blows away your house, everything in it, you are living out of a hotel. you were. until you get kicked out so family workers could stay there. this happened. to a woman you are about to meet.

>>neil: staten island residents are turning to each other for help, with a catering company helping people for food and shelter. >>guest: this is a business just opened when the flooding hit, a hard hit neighborhood. a group of volunteers are staffing this police. it has anything people would need that has been washed away, all sorts of goods and services, canned goods, diapers, toiletries, all of the little changes that are washed from a

home when people are starting from scratch, and a very very difficult situation for the people in the community and it has been tremendously busy day, people have been stopping by from all over the community and exceptional well staffed. a difficult situation but the people in staten island pulling together. >>neil: thank you. look at these pictures my next guest took after hurricane sandy took away everything in her life her staten island home, furniture, clothes and now to add insult to injury she has been kicked out of hotel so fema workers can stay there. she has been very kind during the break. how are you? >>guest: hanging in there. taking it one day at a time trying to figure out each night the best course action. >>neil: your home is destroyed? >>guest: yes. >>neil: you have been living where? >>guest: each night a

different story. i got three nights at the inn on staten island from calling every hour seeing if a room became available. i spent three nights at a reporter's house that was had taking pictures. i spent a few nights at one of the neighbor's friends house, they took a bunch of us in. >>neil: this hotel there were fema works staying there. >>guest: yes. >>neil: so, was for room at the inn? >>guest: no there was no room but no one is mandating who is getting to stay in the hotels. >>neil: i would put you ahead of the fema workers? >>guest: absolutely. you would think. >>neil: you have a dog, is that an issue? your dog is in the green room. >>guest: there she is! >> trying to sick her on o'reilly. was the dog a factor? >>guest: there were hotels that said no dogs. >>neil: are you kidding me?

>>guest: i said she was a service dog. new new -- >>neil: any hotel owner who would lock at you and that would be a factor. was that a factor where the fema guys? >>guest: they tried to chase me out. in finding a new place to live no one want as big dog, so i had a place to live and now i am trying to find another place to rent, no one want as large dog. >>neil: do you have family? >>guest: yes. in new jersey. ploy father is down in hilton head, south carolina. people don't want the dog. >>neil: the president, i don't know if you caught this, the president thinks fema is doing a good job. react to this. >> i do know the federal

government can make a difference we see it right now on the jersey coast and if new york. people are still going through a tough time. the response hasn't been perfect but it has been aggressive and strong and fast and robust and a lot of people have been helped because of it. >>neil: what do you think of that? >>guest: i could not get through to fema to give them my direct deposit information. they were supposed to transfer funds into my account and i had to get a check sent, where? not to my failing address. >>neil: what about the centers they set up? the blizzard caused them to shut them down but they had the relief centers. do they exist? >>guest: not that they gave us the information. not that i know of. >>neil: you have a direct deposit thing set up? >>guest: no, they mailed the check to my mother who is an hour and a half in new jersey

and when i can get gas and get that, i don't know. >>neil: so the response you have seen, how do you characterize it? for you? >>guest: all of people that were participating from fema were nice, they were kind, but they, the right hand didn't know watt left hand was doing. i have worked for organizations where you could act as a person's account on the other side of the country you had people walking around a neighborhood from fema and neighbors would rush them and say do you have information, what is the status of my application, and they are like, i don't know i quantity see that information, and it is like, well, request are you walking around and taking a hotel room. >>neil: for you and your dog, that is ridiculous, but the dog is still a puppy. >>guest: she is tale six. six. everyone thinks she is young. >>neil: some people just grow into it better. beckel is member by and he has a problem with dogs.

just saying...if you really want to make his day. thank you very much. >>guest: thank you. >>neil: al gore is advocating that this of all times for carbon tax to fix the fiscal cliff and deal with our environmental problems and john stossel is fine with that. perfectly. .. ♪

[ birds chirping ] are you sure you can fit in there? [ chuckles ]

♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] around view monitor with bird's-eye view. nice work. [ male announcer ] introducing the all-new nissan pathfinder. it's our most innovative pathfinder ever. nissan. innovation that cites. ♪

>>neil: you thought the fiscal cliff was the only concern, if al gore is right we are facing a climate cliff but have no worries the former vice president has a solution to save us from both, a carbon tax. john stossel says al gore could be on to something. i trust john is not "on" something. >>guest: it creeps me out to agree with al gore about much of anything but, look, if you are taxing people, better to tax carbon than investments or wages

the global warming hysteria is certainly his tear yeah but, carbon has a cost and con impression and solution and it is not a terrible idea. >> so you are picking and choosing your less expensive choices. >> yes, because we do need taxes for something even if it is only defense and where are you going do get it? better to tax consumption. >>neil: i see way saying. wouldn't that, though, hurt that industry? >>guest: a little bit. fewer people would drive, the roads would be less congested. >>neil: you could raise a lot of money. >>guest: depends on how high the tax is. it can be onerous for those driving long distances but they taking the money from us anyway, far better to shrink the government, they don't node

this. >>neil: assuming you move from one gouging government to another area of gaming government. they just add gouging, right? >>guest: they do. i am talking the theoretical possibility of cutting something else in place of the carbon tax. the climate argument is absurd. there is serious climate scientist whose think it is a problem, all the carbon increasing grown house gasses but climate does change, i suspect it is only a small part of the problem. but even if we eliminated what we put out the chinese are building coal plants all the time, the earth will not notice for environmental reasons it is stupid. >>neil: from serving our country to serving the victims of sandy, a teen coming to the rescue.

uld have thought? uld have thought? i did. we did, bob. we did. got it.

>>neil: military veterans are gathering near and far using skills to help victims of hurricane sandy. on the phone with us is a marine corps veteran and a cofounder of a very special group. very nice what you are doing. you got a lot of help. tell me about it. >>guest: we have over 300 military veterans on the ground right now and the veterans came as far away as alaska. we had veterans on the ground from norway, and israel, too. >>neil: no one knows better a crisis situation and how to feel with logistics, i don't want on get into the problems we have seen associated with fema but what do you do to avoid and of the administration nonsense and delays and bogged down type of relief efforts you hear a lot about. how do you avoid that? folks tell me you do, it is like

action, action, action. >>guest: we are focused at community level and we deploy reconnaissance team after a disaster the day after hurricane sandy hit, i had a marine and army veterans on the ground and in the areas of the rockaways and they were doing a need assessment which was relayed to headquarters and we activated the teams. >>neil: and jut working with the local community we forget that, we want to nationalize a crisis and then it gets really bogged down, what have you learned just helping as you have? >>guest: well, you learn how resilient the community is, and we have plugged ourselves directly into the harbor area and we are working directly long side the residents, many of whom have lost almost everything. we are really bridging the military civilian divide right here at home by deploying the teams in the affected areas.

>>neil: how did this compare to being if a war zone? >>guest: a lot of similarities, the unfamiliar sights and sounds. at the rockaways it looked like a bomb hit, frankly. it looks a lot better. we paid a lot of progress but veterans are uniquely prepared to dole with the chaotic environments. >>neil: very, very obvious. thank you very much. thank you for what you doing. in the meantime, did you see this ship? remember this ship? december 31, we are all on this ship? just not for very long.

. hi. i'm henry winkler.

and i'm here to tell homeowners that are 62 and older about a great way to live a better retirement. it's called a reverse mortgage. [ male announcer ] call right now to receive your free dvd and booklet with no obligation. it answers questions like

how a reverse mortgage works, how much you qualify for, the ways to receive your money, and more. plus, when you call now, you'll get this magnifier with l.e.d. light absolutely free. when you call the experts at one reverse mortgage today, you'll learn the benefits of a government-insured reverse mortgage. it will eliminate your monthly mortgage payments and give you tax-free cash from the equity in your home. and here's the best part -- you still own your home. take control of your retirement today. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> neil: finally, why do i feel like i'm on the deck of the titanic and frantically trying to point out to the cap

captain is it me or is that a chunk of ice out there? it's like i'm seeing the disaster playing out in slow motion. i'd love to be wrong, but i think we are sinking fast and we haven't hit anything yet. we are steering a scary course. little more than five weeks away from the ship hitting the sail. republicans and democrats are doing it. maybe something is going on behind the scenes. i'm not seeing it. i am seeing a lot of iceberg. iceberg one, talking about the president not only sticking to his tax the rich, he is doubling down on it. insisting $1.6 trillion in re-knew as part of any end of the year budget fix and the economy can more than deal, though it is weaker than it was two weeks ago. when he delayed the hikes because at the time it was fragile and he couldn't deal. go figure. iceberg two. democrats want to go much further on tax hikes. that means not just higher rates on wealthier taxpayers, but shaking them down for still more dough limiting their deductions and

write-offs. iceberg three not a hint of spending cuts in return so far. union leaders meeting with the president making it clear they are not interested shared sacrifice, but annoying rich dudes. the union president had trouble coming up with a cut to offer me on this show. >> are you open to cut anything? >> you need to leave medicare alone. >> what are you going to give up? >> the point i make about medicaid right now states that's the largest point of the budget. pushed out k-12 education. thirdiary is prison. if you switch cost to state, k-12 -- >> give me one thing you would cut. >> eliminate the tack cut for welliest 2%. that's a cut. >> neil: excuse me a second. ahhh!

iceberg four, total denial. union leaders and progressives that say it was a mandate to attack the spending. it didn't see it in an exit voters survey, but maybe you did. iceberg five. retail sales are slowing. maybe post san dew by they are not sandy. the recovering is drowning. instead of throwing at it life raft, we are throwing it an anchor. hopefully ship. iceberg six, companies are scaling back the health benefit from wal-mart an applebee's to scores of other businesses. batoning down for the storm that washington doesn't see coming from cutting the workers' hours, to cutting workers period. nancy pelosi says she remain democratic leader in the house. iceberg six. enough said. iceberg eight. not one small business leader invited to the white house. why invite the doomed to their own execution, i guess? iceberg nine republicans offering revenues but of yet,

as i said, not a word of a counteroften from democrats in return. what is the return here? sack. iceberg ten. moody's and circling like sharks to take a bite out of the credit rating. taeven before the first victim hits the water. it could go on but why bother? you get the point. so many icebergs, so little time. let me be clear here, all of my populating is based on what i am hearing not what might be happening. hopefully behind the scenes. maybe cooler, wiser, less hysterical heads are quietly and doubtfully cobbling together a fiscal plan to keep the shift afloat. i can ignore the total bull ship. i am hearing from the politicians in front of open microphones. because what i'm hearing, i don't know about you, but what i am hearing scares me shi shiple